Artificial Love
by PumpkinLordOLantern
Summary: Al falls in love with someone, but how will he confess his feelings for her? Co-written by BlackAcez.
1. Chapter 1

A lone pixilated entity floated above the cold steel floor of Lancer Shadowthourne's bedroom/charging station. Colored black and white, its black half blended into the dark room while his white half shined. This entity had no real named, and was only known as "Al" by his close friend and host, Lancer.

A frown showed on his digital face, staring into the darkness of his room in his unknown affliction. He floated pacing back and forth thinking about something. It must have been important from the grunts and occasionally whines he made. 

"What should I do?" He thought. "I never thought of her like this."

The door slides open with light brightening the room‚ Lancer stands at the door seeing his friend with his head down in the darkness.

"Al?" Lancer said turning the lights on.

"Oh! H-hey Lance." Al said quickly straightening his back to look presentable.

"What are you doing just alone in the dark?" Lancer asked.

"Oh uh...just sleeping." Al said.

"... upright?" Lancer said. 

"Yes." Al claimed.

"Still floating?" Lancer said.

"Yeah! It's just a ghost thing! Don't worry about it!" Al said putting on a smile. "So what's up with you Lancer?" 

"Um...Well I was just about to go somewhere and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with." Lancer said.

"Where are you going?" Al asked. 

"To see Gumball for a while." Lancer said.

"You're…..going there? Really?" Al asked. 

"Yeah. To just drop by, maybe stay for awhile, talk to the kids. That kind of stuff." Lancer said. "So you want to come or-"

"No!" Al said loudly, nearly shouting. "I mean...no thanks Lance. I'm good."

"You sure you're okay?" Lancer asked.

"Yeah! Just a little grumpy is all from my nap. I'll get back to it!" Al said.

He dropped to the floor and curled up, fake snoring and "sleeping".

"Um...okay. I'll let you get back to...whatever you were doing." Lancer said.

He turned around to exit the room, saying one more goodbye and leaving with the door sliding to a close.

Al stopped his fake slumber and sighed out a sad, melancholy and depressed breath. He rose back from the floor and looked to the door with an aching yet tempting thought.

"_Should I have gone with him? I guess it would have been better to go with him than to sulk here all by myself."__Al thought. "Why am I feeling like this? I never thought I'd feel emotion, especially not THIS one."_

"_What is this feeling, burning inside me? It isn't fear, but it kinda is. It's anxiety, restlessness, delight, hope and despair all rolled up into one. What is it?"_ Al thought over his emotions, singling each one out until he got to one he never knew he could process. "Is this…love?"

**Credits to:**

**PumpkinLOL (me) – Al, Lancer**

**Co-written by BlackAcez**


	2. Chapter 2

_"Al's been acting very strange lately. He's been like this for weeks. Maybe it really is just some ghost thing, but I'll just talk to him about it some more later I guess."_ Lancer thought as he walked towards the Watterson household's front door.

Lancer raised his claw and knocked three times.

"Gumball?" Lancer asked.

Lancer knocked three times again.

"Gumball?" Lancer said again.

Lancer knocked another three times.

"Gumball." Lancer said one last time and stopped knocking.

The doorknob turned and the door opened to a middle aged blue feline with a welcoming smile to his robotic friend.

"Lancer! Knew it was you with those knocks." Gumball said.

"Hey Gumball! Can I come in?" Lancer asked.

"Oh sure man! Make yourself at home." Gumball said opening the door to Lancer.

Lancer entered and went into the living room to sit down on the couch and laid back relaxed.

"So what are you doing here today?" Gumball asked sitting next to him.

"I can't drop by to say hello?" Lancer said. "Where are those wife and kids of yours?"

"Well the wife is here." Carrie said coming into the room.

Carrie matured into a fully developed ghostly woman. Curvaceous figure and long white hair reaching down to her waist, she was an astonishingly beautiful woman, making Gumball a very lucky man.

"Good day ma'am." Lancer said tipping his hat to Carrie.

"Hello Lancer. What brings you?" Carrie asked.

"Just saying hey. I see the kids aren't here yet." Lancer said.

"Nah, but school should be over for them. They'll be home in a few minutes." Gumball said. "Why?"

"What can I say? They're cool." Lancer said.

"Because they take after yours truly." Gumball said

"Please‚ the only thing they've taken from you is that childish, rebel spirit." Carrie said. "That's the reason why they get in so much trouble." 

By the house‚ a yellow school bus came to a halt and opened its doors.

"Speak of the devil. Here they are now." Gumball said.

Four out of the many other children walked from the bus. Firstly‚ a small ghost girl with a orange and black bow wearing a similarly colored shirt floated over the steps onto the ground. The small things she inherited from her father was a head of blue hair and a pointy tooth sticking from her mouth. Marmalade was her name.

Another ghost child accompanied her with a similar look but different attire. She wore a plain black T-shirt, spiked wristbands, a fishnet on her right arm, and blue hair. Her name is Marissa. 

Then there's Gumdrop, a 15 year old cat who's looks almost identical to his father when he was younger. He wears an orange T-shirt with a blue long-sleeved undershirt, blue jeans and orange sneakers, and a skull necklace.

Then last, but not least, Carine, a cat-ghost who is also 15, has gray fur, and wears a black, low-neck crop top, a white vest with a black X on each side, purple jeans with a black skull-buckled belt, a spiked neck band, a magenta bandana on her left arm, an earring, and her signature purple hair pin. The door opened and they children walked in the house. 

"Hey guys. How was school?" Gumball asked them.

"Same as usual." Marmalade said.

"Hm?" Marissa noticed Lancer looking at them on the couch. "Oh this is...uh? Who are you again?"

"Lancer's the name." Lancer answered.

"Say hello to our guest kids." Carrie said.

"Hello Mr. Shadowthourne." Gumdrop greeted.

"Hi!" Marmalade said cheerfully. "Kinky hat!"

"Thanks...I guess. Kinky….yeah." Lancer said trying to make sense of her compliment.

"Hello again." Marissa said uninterested.

Everybody got acquainted with their robotic friend, all except for Carine. She ignored the lot of them and walked past them going up the stairs.

"Carine?" Gumball said stopping his daughter. "Are you going to say hi?"

"Hi." Carine said quickly and quietly.

"What about acknowledging our guest?" Carrie asked.

"Hello!" Lancer said to Carine waving kindly.

"...Yeah. Hi. Whatever." Carine said to them. "Look. I had a very long day at school and I have a lot of homework to do. Can I just go to my room? Please?"

Gumball did not approve of his daughter's attitude, but just by looking at her, he could tell she was tired and stressed. He took a frustrated sigh and waved his hand telling her to go on. She continued up the stairs and what everyone heard was the slam of a closing door.

"I'm sorry Lance. I don't know what her issue is." Gumball said.

"No it's alright. That's just how she is right?" Lancer said.

"Yeah." Gumball said. "So did Bobert come with you?"

"Nope. Afraid not. He decided to sleep in or something." Lancer said. 

"Robots get tired?" Carrie asked. "Even more surprising, Bobert getting tired?"

"He's a weirdo. What can I say?" Lancer said.

In midst of them talking to each other, Marissa pulled Gumdrop and Marmalade to the side to discuss a secret with them.

"Hey guys." Marissa whispered to her siblings as the adults talked. "Wanna play a little prank on this guy?"

"Prank him?" Why?" Gumdrop asked.

"Why the hell not?! It'll be the perfect opportunity!" Marissa said trying to convince them to join her in mischief. "He's fresh, he's new, he's prey. Let's do it!"

"Well when you put it that way…" Gumdrop became intrigued by his sister's plan.

"I'm in!" Marmalade said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, me too. It could be fun I guess." Gumdrop said agreeing to join them.

"Awesome! But let me go get Carine! I know she'd love to do this too!" Marissa said then quickly flying up the stairs.

"Wait, are you sure she wants to be bothered right now?" Gumdrop asked.

"Yeah, she seemed really pissed today. What's the matter with her anyway?" Marmalade asked.

"I don't know and I don't really care. She'll cheer up after this, and I know it!" Marissa continued up the stairs to the next floor.

In the long hallway of the second floor where the bedrooms of the family were stationed, Marissa floated over the front door of Carine's bedroom, with a very inviting "GET OUT" sign hanging on the door.

"Hey! Hey Carine! You awake?" Marissa asked.

A mattress could be heard creaking, slaps of feet on carpet increased as the grumpy cat walked towards the door. Carine opened it but only slightly so that she could be heard.

"What?" Carine asked with a dreary, tired tone.

"I've got the best prank idea ever, and I know you've been itching for some havoc!" Marissa said with great energy and enthusiasm. "You and me will be the brains while everyone else does the work."

"Hm….sounds fun." Carine said.

"I know! Now come-" Marissa was saying.

"Have fun without me." Carine said and shut the door on Marissa's face, leaving her stunned and slightly offended.

"Carine? What's the matter?" Marissa asked. "Carine!"

After many attempts to get Carine out of her room, she gave up and returned back downstairs. She wondered why Carine acted so hostile towards her, even with her favorite hobby available to her.

"_Man. What's her problem?"_ Marissa thought.

**Credits to:**

**PumpkinLOL (me) - Al, Lancer******

**Jonathan-Elrod - Marmalade,******

**michaelryder37 - Marissa, Carine******

**Midnight-Wolfi3 - Gumdrop, ******

**Co-written by BlackAce-of-Spade **


	3. Chapter 3

Marissa came back to her siblings from upstairs to deliver the disappointing news to Marmalade and Gumdrop.

"Hey guys. Bad news. Carine ain't on board." Marissa said.

"What? Why not?" Marmalade asked.

"She just said to do it without her and closed the door at me. I don't know why she's acting more bitchy than usual." Marissa said.

"Has she been like this all day? Grumpy and a little moody? You know it could just be her time of the-" Before Gumdrop could finish his sly comment, Marissa did what anyone should do to a person who said such things, and punched him hard in the stomach making him collapse to the ground.

"So, do you still want to do this?" Marissa asked Marmalade.

"Hmmmm." Marmalade thought if she should still carry this out without her other sister. "I don't know. Do you think it can still work without her?"

"Only if you do exactly what I say, when I say it." Marissa said.

"Really? Ah fine then." Marmalade said.

"Can I...still help?" Gumdrop groaned.

"Sure. As my slave." Marissa said.

"Our slave." Marmalade added and the two laughed.

The diabolical plan of Marissa and Marmalade was set in motion. She told them every step in specific detail, assigned them their roles and began the mission.

"Yeah and so-"

"Excuse us."

Gumball was talking to his wife and friend before his children interrupted his conversation. They were on their knees, hands together and eyes big and shiny trying to look as cute and innocent as they could be.

"We deeply apologize for interrupting you adults." Marissa said.

"But we were wondering if Mr. Shadowthourne would like a beverage?" Marmalade asked.

"Since he is our guest, it's the least we could do." Gumdrop said.

"Drink? What kind of robot drinks?" Carrie asked.

"Um, I think I'll have some wine please." Lancer requested.

"Wine? At 2 in the afternoon?" Gumball asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Lancer told Gumball. "ROBOTS CAN DRINK ANYTHING!"

"Are you sure you will be setting a good example by drinking alcohol in the presence of us children?" Marmalade asked.

"We are quite impressionable you know." Marissa said.

This made Lancer feel guilty of his request and decided to change it.

"Your right. Just get me….whatever." Lancer said.

"Yes sir!" Gumdrop said.

"We'll be back." Marissa said to them as her and the two left for the kitchen.

"You have such well mannered kids." Lancer complimented their behavior.

"Hehehehe!" Marissa and Marmalade were seated in the kitchen, chuckling evilly with anticipation to execute their plan. "If he wanted a drink…."

"We'll give him one." Marmalade said.

Gumdrop comes into the kitchen holding numerous bottles‚ containing all kinds of fluids and substances. "Okay here's all the crap you wanted." He said dropping them on the table.

"He wanted some alcohol right?" Marissa said. "Well lets give him some."

"Rubbing alcohol! 90% so its sure to give him a buzz." Marmalade said as she poured it into a tall glass.

"Some motor oil so he won't taste anything out of the ordinary." Marissa said pouring the thick black fluid into the cup.

"Bleach. To mask this oil." Marmalade said pouring it into the glass and stirring it, turning the dark mixture into a light gray color.

Marissa continued to put more into the cup. "Hot sauce, ketchup…"

She with little reasoning punched Gumdrop square in the nose, breaking it and making him bleed. She got a tissue and wiped the blood from his nose and put the bloody tissue in the mix. "And blood. To make it look appetizing."

"What was that for?" Gumdrop asked holding his broken nose.

"Shut up slave." Marissa said. "What else, what else?"

"Oh! Lets give it a refreshing, minty taste!" Marmalade said pouring half a bottle of mouthwash in the cup.

"Beans for protein!" Marissa said pouring a can of beans in the cup.

"And some sugar! Gotta have it sweet." Marmalade said pouring a large bag of white sugar into the cup.

"Okay...needs something with a little more kick" Marissa said.

"Some horseradish?" Marmalade asked holding a bottle of said spice.

"I guess. But I was thinking of something more….explosive." Marissa said.

"Oh! Firecracker?" Marmalade asked.

"Firecracker." Marissa confirmed. "Hey Gumdrop!"

"Uh...what?" Gumdrop asked with a still sore nose.

"I need you to go to your room‚ and get a firecracker I put under your bed." Marissa said.

"Okay I- What?! You put a firecracker in my room?!" Gumdrop said.

"Uh yeah." Marissa said.

"But why?" He asked.

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just a grumpy moody little bitch on her "time". Marissa said reminding Gumdrop of his earlier comment.

"Pfft. You're telling me." Gumdrop whispered under his breath.

Marmalade turned to him in disgust and jumped into his body through his open mouth. Gumdrop's skin turned sickly green and he began to punch himself repeatedly in the face and throw himself on the ground. She exited from his body, folded her arms together and laughed.

"Serves you right." Marmalade said.

She possessed him again to make him grab a knife and hold it to his groin.

"Now get going before I make you know how it feels to have your monthly curse." Marmalade said from his body. She exited again making Gumdrop fall to his knees gasping for air and dropping the knife.

"Nice one." Marissa complimented.

"Thanks!" Marmalade said.

"Okay I'm going, I'm going." Gumdrop said in fear and defeat.

"Pretty long time for a drink!" Carrie said from the living room.

"Sorry we're almost done! Just had to wash out a cup!" Marissa said.

Gumdrop snuck from the kitchen to avoid detection by his parents and raise suspicion. He creeped up the stairs, carefully placing his steps making as little noise as possible. When he made it to the upper level of the house, he walked down the hallway to reach his room. As he passed by the many doors, he went by Carine's room where the door was ajar. He thought about looking in there himself but shook the thought off and focused more on the task at hand.

He opened his bedroom door and tried looking underneath his bed to see if his sister was being truthful in her threat; she was. He had to cut the firework from the base of his bed and carefully defuse it to avoid it blowing up in his face.

"Got it. That was close." Gumdrop said successfully removing the explosive from his bed.

Gumdrop left his room holding the firecracker, satisfied that the worst part of his deed was done he proceeded to go back to the kitchen, passing the many rooms along with Carine's; door still opened slightly. From Carine's behavior earlier, he was somewhat curious of what she could have been doing. He knew it would probably not end quite well if she found him sneaking around, but curiosity got the best of him.

He peaked his head over the opening of the door and looked around. The room was dark, little light coming from her window and no other lights on.

"_Is she asleep?"_Gumdrop thought.

In actuality, Carine wasn't asleep. Her bed was still perfectly made without even the print of a body in the mattress. He stuck out his head more to look around, the room was a tad dirty, clothing all on the ground and boxes of food from weeks ago. He questioned if she was even in her room anymore but he could hear soft chuckling. She was there but he didn't know where. Carefully, he pushed the door open were slowly so that it would not creak and took one step forward, then another step now entered into Carine's room. He heard another chuckle very close by, he was full of fear and afraid to look around to see if she already knew he was here and would make him regret it. In the corner of his eye however, he picked up on a faint glow as the only light source in the room. To his right he saw that Carine was sitting on the floor facing the wall, headphones in her ear, on her laptop computer, typing away and kept laughing after every word she typed.

"_Carine...laughing?"_ Gumdrop wondered. _"What is she laughing at?"_

"HEY GUMDROP!"

Gumdrop jumped at hearing his name shouted by someone, but was settled that it was not Carine and she could not hear it due to her headphones. It sounded like Marissa was calling his name and he immediately remembered the reason he came up in the first place. He crept out of her room without alerting her and slowly shut the door.

"Gumdrop! What the hell were you doing up there?" Marissa asked as he came down the stairs. "I had to tell mom and dad you were looking something up on how to nurse puppies or whatever! What's took you so long?"

"Nothing at all! I've got your stuff." Gumdrop handed the firework to her.

"Ah. Perfect." Marissa took the firecracker from his hands. "Not so useless after all."

"Now….here's the kick." Marissa dipped the firecracker into their prank drink. "And all that's needed, is a little flare."

She held a lighter in her hands, open and a small ember coming from the top. She lowered it into the drink until it was consumed by the contents and extinguished. After that, the drink glowed red and steamed.

"Woah….what is it?" Marmalade asked.

"I call it...devil sweat." Marissa said. "Hehehehe."

"Ugh!" The intense odor burned in Gumdrop's nose and watered his eyes. "Smells like boiled, peppered piss!"

Marissa inhaled the fumes deeply and exhaled in satisfaction.

"Smells like the best prank ever." Marissa said.

"Yeah it do!" Marmalade cheered.

"Oh Mr. Shadowthourne! Your drink is ready!" Marissa said in false innocence.

"Oh great! Bring it here over here please?" Lancer asked.

"Coming!" Marissa floated to the living room with the deadly elixir in hand. She went past her parents who both caught whiff of the mixture.

*sniff* *sniff* "What smells like boiled peppered piss?" Gumball asked.

"Hm. Smells like a demon's sweat." Carrie inhaled the scent more deeply. "Makes me…hungry."

"Here you go!" Marissa said and handed the drink to Lancer.

"Thank you Marissa." Lancer said. "Hm. What kind of drink is it?"

"A real surprise!" Marissa chuckled.

Lancer looked into the cup. The red, thick fluid swished around as it continued to glow and radiate it's hellish properties. Luckily for the brewers of this beverage, Lancer could not feel the heat from it or smell its fumes which left him oblivious to its real danger. A slot opened in his head and he poured the drink down the hatch.

"He's doing it!" Marissa thought excited. She watched with joy as he kept "drinking" it until there was no more left. She awaited his reaction.

"Hm…*smacking tongue sound* interesting."

Lancer froze and dropped the glass, shattering it upon impact.

"Lancer? What's the matter?" Gumball asked in concern.

Lancer's eye went blank and his stiff body dropped to the ground. Marissa burst out in laughter seeing that her prank was successful, not yet aware of the damage she caused.

"Lancer!" Gumball dashed to Lancer to hold him from the ground. Carrie was highly concerned as well and assisted her husband in helping their friend.

"Hahaha! It worked! He fell for it! Hahaha!" Marissa laughed uncontrollably.

"Marissa! What the hell did you do?!" Gumball asked in surprise and confusion.

"Relax, I just gave him a little something to drink!" Marissa joked as if nothing was wrong.

"Mr. Lancer, are you alright?" Gumdrop asked becoming nervous.

Carrie shook Lancer a few times to attempt waking him up, but he was still inactive. She phased her head inside Lancer's body to see any damage which prevented him from reactivating.

"Guys….what did we do?" Marmalade said becoming visibly afraid and remorseful of her actions.

"It can't be that bad...right? It couldn't have hurt him too much!" Marissa said trying to defend her actions. "It was just a prank!"

"Oh my goodness…." Carrie said coming out of Lancer.

"What's wrong Carrie? Is he okay?" Gumball asked.

"What….whatever he was given…" Carrie covered her eyes as she struggled to tell the news. "It ate away at his internal systems."

"WHAT?!" The guilty culprits said in shock.

"His wires, his circuits, chips, everything is dissolved…..he nothing but a shell now…" A tear could be seen falling from Carrie's cheek. "He's gone."

"Gone?!" Gumball cried.

This hit everyone hard, the shock of someone dying in their house made them overwhelmed with emotion but even more so with guilt on Marissa's part of this.

"No! No no no! It wasn't supposed to happen like this!" Marissa yelled going to hold Lancer's body. "You murdered my friend!" Gumball yelled with angry tears to his daughter.

"I-I didn't mean to! It-it was just a prank!" Marissa was now crying, one of the few times she ever did so. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt him! I'm sorry!"

"Why would you do this?!" Carrie asked.

"I was just playing with him! I didn't mean to...kill him...I'm sorry!" Marissa kept apologizing and bawling her eyes out in great remorse of her fatal prank."Im sorry!...I'm so sorry…."

"BAZINGA!" Lancer shouted eye on once again, making Marissa scream, cower and run behind the couch.

"HAHAHAHA!" Lancer, Gumball and Carrie laughed.

"What the-?! Mister you're okay!" Marmalade said in surprising relief.

"Hahahaha! Of course I am!" Lancer laughed. "Did you really think something like that was going to hurt me? I can drink pure acid and piss it out as water!"

"We got you good!" Gumball said. "The pranksters have become the pranked!"

"B-but mom was crying!" Gumdrop stated.

"The fumes from that drink were coming off Lancer, it made my eyes water!" Carrie laughed.

"Marissa! Did you see the look on your face?! I haven't seen you cry so hard in years!" Gumball said.

She came from behind the couch, eyes still watery and red and nose running.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Marissa shouted.

"Yeah….it is!" Gumball laughed and rubbed the hair on his daughter's head. "Oh Marissa. Too easy."

"I feel so welcomed! Thank you for attempting to destroy me." Lancer said.

"Hehe. Anytime sir."

*Ring!* *Ring!*

"Hm? Someone's calling." Carrie said.

"Wonder who that could be." Gumball said, getting up and going to the kitchen landline phone. He picked up the phone, brought it to his ear and spoke.

"Hello?" Gumball asked in the phone.

"Yes hello, Mr. Watterson? This is Elmore Junior High's behavioral department to inform you of the behavior of one of your children today."

"Oh crap. What happened?"

Above them on the next floor, Carine was still typing away at her computer. She was logged into a chatting webpage where several other people were talking to each other of various things, including herself. She sent a message to someone to have that person respond to her in seconds with a funny comment, making Carine chuckle.

**"Ah shut up! lol"** Carine typed under the username "SadisticSister"

**"What? It's true. XD"** An unknown person replied to her under the name "Techguy1001".

**"lol….hey." **Carine said.

**"Yeah?" **Techguy1001 asked.

**"Just wanted to say thx for talking to me today."**

**"We talk everyday."**

**"Yea but, I really needed it today. I already told you what happened and just you saying something helped me alot. Honest."**

**"Np. Anything 4 a friend like you. :3"**

**"Wow your so weird. XD"**

**"Lol"**

"Hey! Carine!" Gumball called from downstairs. "Come down here! We need to talk!"

**"ugh hold up i'll brb. My dad's calling me. Might be about that "thing" so i may have to ttyl."**

**"Kk. peace!"**

**"Bye."**

**"...see you soon."**

**"…..Yeah. u 2. :)"**

**Comment, review, favorite and follow for more chapters! Let me know your thoughts and bye bye!**

**Credits to:**

**PumpkinLOL (me) – Al, Lancer**

**Jonathan-Elrod - Marmalade,**

**Michaelryder37 – Marissa, Carine**

**Midnight-Wolfi3 – Gumdrop**

**Co-written by BlackAcez**


	4. Chapter 4

Carine came downstairs to see what her dad wanted her for.

"What is it?" Carine asked.

"Care to explain this?" Gumball pressed the phone's answering machine, relaying a recorded message from a certain old, grouchy and crotchety teacher who was an enemy of the family for many years.

"AND INSUBORDINATE- what? It wasn't recording?! Gah! Very well. Dear Wattersons. It seems that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all. Your sad excuse for a daughter has been nothing but the most Atrocious, Agonizing, Aggravating-" Gumball pressed a button to skip through the message which showed how long her rant actually was.

"A,B,C,D,E." Gumball said as he held the button before releasing it on "E".

"Evil, Eclat, Ecocidal, Exlex Eldritch-"

"F,G,H,I."

"Insubordinate, Irritating, Impulsive, Illaudable, Immoral,"

"J,K,L."

"LAZY!"

"M"

"MALIC!"

"N"

"NARQUOIS!"

"O"

"OBJICIENT!"

"P"

"PITIFUL!"

"Q‚ R‚ S‚ T"

"TREACHEROUS!"

"U"

"UNPLEASANT!"

"V"

"VICIOUS!"

"W"

"WOEFUL!"

"X"

"XANTHIPPE!"

"Y"

"YARLING!"

"and Z."

"ZINGARO! AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF-what?! What do you mean for me to calm down?! My anger is perfectly...ah. You're right I'm getting besides myself... BUT NOT ONLY THAT-" Gumball stopped the message from going on any further.

"Half those words I can't even think of let alone pronounce. But do you have any idea why she'd go through hours of spewing anger to us? More importantly‚ to you?" Gumball asked Carine who rolled her eyes to the side as if she heard nothing from the voicemail.

"Hell I don't f**king now." Carine cursed.

"Excuse me?" Gumball said thinking he heard his daughter wrong.

"I. Don't. Know. Besides why should I care? You know she just b**ches about random s**t." Carine said without any fear.

Carine was not one who kept her words to herself‚ she said what was on her mind and how she felt about something even though it would get her in trouble with her elders such as her parents. They of course didn't approve of her tone.

"Now young lady! You can't talk like that to us! Especially in front of a guest." Carrie said to her.

Carine blew into the air and rolled her eyes again.

"Whatever. Can I go back to my room now?" Carine asked giving no care to the situation at hand.

"No! We're asking you what happened!" Gumball yelled.

"And I told you. Nothing." Carine said.

"What's your issue today?!" Carrie asked.

"I don't have any! I just told you nothing's the matter!" Carine barked at her.

"Something's obviously the matter with how you're acting!" Gumball said.

"I said I'm fine!" Carine shouted.

"I said you're not!" Gumball shouted back.

"I say! It sure is getting late!" Lancer said looking at his imaginary watch. "So….

Carine was now in a heated argument with her parents, shouting insults and profanity at them while refusing to reveal where her aggression came from. The environment and tense atmosphere was putting Lancer in a very awkward and uncomfortable situation.

"I'm just going to…..go." Lancer said back up slowly from the ensuing family drama ready to occur.

"Yeah you'd better." Marissa said to him.

Lancer slowly opened the front door and slipped out of the house unnoticed by anyone else, rushing back home.

"Phew! Home sweet home."Lancer already made it back home, he opened the door and sighed a breath of relief. "I didn't want to get caught up in all that craziness."

"Mother! Father! I'm home!" Lancer called out to his parents.

He awaited a response but nobody responded. He looked around the living room, their bedroom and the kitchen but found nothing.

"Where'd they- huh?" Lancer found a note on the fridge. He pulled it off and read it.

"010001000110010101100001011100100010000001001100011000010110111001100011011001010111001000101100000011010000101000001101000010100100110101100101001000000110000101101110011001000010000001111001011011110111010101110010001000000110110101101111011101000110100001100101011100100010000001101000011000010111011001100101001000000111010001101111001000000110011101101111001000000110111101110101011101000010000001100110011011110111001000100000011000010010000001110111011010000110100101101100011001010010000001110100011011110010000001110011011001010110000101110010011000110110100000100000011001100110111101110010001000000110001101101111011011010111000001101111011011100110010101101110011101000111001100100000011001100110111101110010001000000110110101111001001000000110111001100101011110000111010000100000011100000111001001101111011010100110010101100011011101000010111000100000010101110110010100100000011011010110000101111001001000000110001001100101001000000110011101101111011011100110010100100000011001100110111101110010001000000110000100100000011000110110111101101110011100110110100101100100011001010111001001100001011000100110110001111001001000000110110001101111011011100110011100100000011101000110100101101101011001010010110000100000011000100111010101110100001000000111011101100101001000000111011101101001011011000110110000100000011000100110010100100000011000100110000101100011011010110010000001100101011101100110010101101110011101000111010101100001011011000110110001111001001011100010000001001001011001100010000001111001011011110111010100100000011001110110010101110100001000000111010001101001011100100110010101100100001000000110111101100110001000000111011101100001011010010111010001101001011011100110011100101100001000000111100101101111011101010010000001100011011000010110111000100000011010100110111101101001011011100010000001000010011011110110001001100101011100100111010000100000011010010110111000100000011010000111100101110000011001010111001000100000011100110110110001100101011001010111000000100000011101010110111001110100011010010110110000100000011101110110010100100000011001110110010101110100001000000110001001100001011000110110101100101100001000000110111101110010001000000110110101100001011110010110001001100101001000000111000001101100011000010111100100100000011101110110100101110100011010000010000001111001011011110111010101110010001000000110011001110010011010010110010101101110011001000010000001000001011011000010110000100000011011010110010101100101011101000010000001111001011011110111010101110010001000000110011001110010011010010110010101101110011001000010000001000111011101010110110101100010011000010110110001101100001000000110000101101110011001000010000001101111011101000110100001100101011100100010000001110100011010000110100101101110011001110111001100101110001000000100101001110101011100110111010000100000011001010110111001101010011011110111100100100000011110010110111101110101011100100111001101100101011011000111011001100101011100110010000001110101011011100111010001101001011011000010000001110111011001010010000001100111011001010111010000100000011000100110000101100011011010110010111000001101000010100000110100001010010011000110111101110110011001010010110000100000010010100110010101110010011010010110001101101000011011110010000001100001011011100110010000100000010001110110110001100001011001000110100101110011"

"Hm. Well, I guess they'll be gone for awhile then….and I probably shouldn't be too worried. I mean, I'm like 30 something years old and I'm still living with my parents? Time away from them may be what I need." Lancer said. "And I can even hang out a little more with Al. Speaking of Al, I have to check on him again. Maybe now he'll tell me what was the matter with him this morning." Lancer went downstairs to his quarters in the basement.

"Al?" Lancer called for Al and awaited a response, but there wasn't any.

"Al?" Lancer called again but there's still no response.

"Where are you?" Lancer said looking around the room searching for Al.

Lancer searched all over his room, looking for Al, but he was nowhere to be found. Then he saw that the main computer was on.

"What the? Wasn't this off when I left?" Lancer asked himself.

"_I guess Al must've used it and left it on."_ Lancer thought, thinking that Al used the main computer and left it on when he was done.

Lancer decided to see what Al has been on the computer, he saw a webpage displaying an online chatroom.

"_What? Who was he chatting with?"_Lancer thought.

The webpage started off in what seemed like a conversation between the user, meaning Al, and another person. Lancer scrolled down and kept doing so for at least five whole minutes going through a long list of messages between them.

"_SadisticSister? Who the hell is that?"_ Lancer thought. _"Don't tell me….ah damn it Al."_

"Can't believe he's resorting to locking himself in MY room, using MY computer to pick up random chicks who probably aren't even chicks! Ever heard of 'catfishing'?" Lancer said, highly against his friend talking to others online. "Let me look at these messages."

He scrolled through a few messages to see what Al and the person he was chatting with said to each other.

"Pssh. Oh my go- How does this guy not see that its obviously a dude?" Lancer said.

"_OMG! U r so funny. XD"_ Lancer read from this "Sadistic" person. "Al's jokes are horrible!"

"_Ugh! My family is SOOOOOO irritating!"_ Lancer read again. "Another telltale sign. The 'teenage girl annoyed by my family' routine."

"What did Al say?" Lancer asked himself. _"Lol. Mine is crazy too. Especially my brother. He thinks he's my dad or something."_

"Hey! If it weren't from me, you'd still be in a freaking computer!" Lancer said to the invisible Al. "What else have you been telling this 'girl' huh?"

Lancer looked through more of his posts. "Blah blah this. Blah blah that. Blah bla-Ooh! This looks juicy."

"_Hey can I talk to u bout something?"_ Lancer said reading in place of Al's online friend.

"_Sure."_

"_do u...think im a bad person?"_

"_What? no, why would u say that?"_

_"...I've told u enough of me for u to know why."_

"_Well...You've just been through a lot. Nobody should blame u that much for how u treat others."_

"_I know I should have just gotten over it all, but I can't let go of my anger, aggression and everything….and I just take it out on the people I love. Sometimes I hate being me."_

"Do you think your family loves u?"

"_...I piss them off a lot. But I know that they do."_

"_Then u should love yourself, and who u are. u may anger your family and they do the same to u, but at least u have them and they care about u enough to irritate u.__"_

"Oh my god Al. When did you become a therapist?" Lancer said as he continued reading.

"_Thx Tech.__"_

_"np."_

"I think I've read enough." Lancer moved from the keyboard and turned around. "Now I definitely need to talk to him now."

He left the room and asked around the basement for Al, calling his name. However unknown to him, his friend was hiding in plain sight. When he left the room, Al exited from the computer monitor looking both ways to ensure he was alone once again.

"Damn." Al sighed. "He knows now."

Meanwhile as Lancer was home, Gumball and Carrie finished arguing with Carine, but not to the result they would've preferred. She kept denying whatever was going on with her leaving her parents exhausted of effort and options. In the end they simply sent her back to her room along with their other children. The husband and wife worried for their daughter, and tried to come up with the reason for her defensive attitude.

"Something's up with her." Carrie said.

"I know. But she won't fess up." Gumball said..

"What did Simian do this time?" Carrie asked.

"Same damn thing she's been doing since forever, being an old fart. But Carine wouldn't have been this defensive if she knew she really didn't do anything, so it had to be something she did." Gumball replied.

"What do you think she did? Simian didn't even tell us what she did, no other administration told us, no email, no cops so It couldn't have been that bad." Carrie said.

"Should I just call her back?" Gumball asked.

"No she'll just keep silent….Hmmm." Carrie said."Maybe….let me try."

"We already did." Gumball said.

"We did, but not just me. She opens up more to me." Carrie said. "Remember she-"

"Hates men. Yeah yeah I know. Gumball said, finishing Carrie's sentence.

"You know how she is. So I will try and take care of this okay?" Carrie said.

"Well okay. I hope you can do something." Gumball said.

"Me too." Carrie floated up the stairs to see her daughter.

Meanwhile Carine was in her room, door locked and continuing her chat with the person online.

**"Hey u there?" **Carine asked.

**"Srry I've gotta go offline for awhile! srry!"** Techguy1001 said.

**"Oh. Well c u la-" **Carine was saying until Techguy1001 abruptly left the chatroom.

"And he's gone." Carine said as she closed her computers and sighed. "Damn it."

Carine hears a knock on her door.

"Carine, are you there?" Carrie asked.

"GO AWAY!" Carine yelled.

"I'm coming in." Carrie said.

"No you can't! I locked the-" Carine was debunked when her mother phased through the door into her room.

"...damn." Carine cursed silently. "What is it mom?"

"Carine." Carrie floated past her dirty, clothing littered floor and sat herself down on her bed. "I'm worried about you."

"About what?" Carine asked. "Why do you care?"

"Duuuh!" Carrie said making a playful face. "You're my daughter."

"Whatever, why are you worried about me anyway?" Carine asked back to the other question.

"You were obviously hiding something back there, with all that screaming and cursing." Carrie said.

"How could you tell?" Carine asked.

"I'm not stupid. Now can you ease my worry and tell me what's the matter?" Carrie asked.

"...no." Carine answered.

"Please?" Carrie asked again.

"No." Carine answered again.

"Carine. Come on. Tell me." Carrie said.

"No." Carine said with the same answer. "Like I said before, nothings the matter."

Carrie was getting nowhere with her. She kept denying the problem just as she did earlier before. It seemed that she was not going to be able to get to her in this way.

"...okay." Carrie said. "I guess I'll just- mwahaha!" Carrie suddenly jumped to Carine and entered herself into her daughter's body. Carine was shaken slightly and held her body feeling a squeamish slime like substance crawl inside her.

"M-mom? What did you do?" Carine asked. Her hands began to move on their own against her own will. "What are you doing?!"

Her fingers moved erratically, sweeping past each other and moving towards her face. They dropped to her stomach and tickled her belly. "He..hehe..hehe! Stop mo-haha...haha!" Carine laughed as she was being tickled by herself, by her mother.

"Not going to tell me huh? I'll just tickle you till you decide to fess up!" Carrie said from Carine's body.

"S-stop mom! Hahahaha! Hahaha- how are you doing this?! Hahahaha!" Carine laughed uncontrollably.

"I'll tickle you to death!" Carrie said playfully.

"S-stop it Hahahaha! Please! Hahahaha! Stop! Hahahaha!" Carine begged.

"Not until you tell me what's the matter with you!" Carrie said.

"No! Hahahaha! Just stop!" Carine said, still laughing on.

"Never!" Carrie said as she still tickles her daughter.

Carrie kept tickling her daughter as Carine keeps laughing on. Tears were dropping from her eyes, she laughed so hard it felt like she was going to run out of breath soon. She was not just laughing because of the physical response to tickling, but she was experiencing true joy because of the activity being shared with herself and her mother.

This went on for thirty minutes until Carine decided to give up and tell her.

"Alright! Hahahaha! I give up! I'll tell you! Hahahaha! Just stop it please! Hahahaha!" Carine said.

"I knew you'd give up soon." Carrie said.

Carrie exited out of her daughter's body, leaving her panting from her laughter because of Carrie tickling her a lot.

"Now was that so hard?" Carrie asked.

"Yes!" Carine panted still chuckling slightly.

"You enjoyed that though." Carrie said grinning. She sat back down on Carine's bed and had her daughter sit by her. "So now like I asked before, what happened?"

Carine looked at her feet, not ignoring her mother but trying to think of how to tell her. But even from the beginning, she knew if there was someone she could talk to about anything, it would be her mother and she would be understanding of it. Now that she was alone with her and she made herself clear in her concern, Carine was comfortable enough to talk with her.

"...well. It's….everything." Carine said blatantly.

"Everything with what?" Carrie asked.

"School mostly. Just with...my teachers. They act like they can treat me like any other kid there. They take one look at me, hear of my 'reputation' and think I'm some troublesome, evil, depressing emo...not that I'm not but still. They think of me worse than even that." Carine said, opening up to her mother. "And I know I ,of all things, shouldn't care for what any other kids say or think. But, sometimes I do. I really do."

"That's something you're beginning to face as you're getting older. You begin to care more of your image." Carrie said.

"And just like the teachers, they judge me the second they see or hear of me." Carine said, laying her back on her bed. "Today, Ms. Simian was talking about something and asked around for an answer. Nobody answered so she called on me. I was paying attention, but I didn't know it. So that's what I told her. Then she said some sly ass...sorry. Said something smart about me like 'how expected from the likes of you' . Then I said something back to her, probably should have worded it differently now that I look back on it. We argued, I said a lot of things, then I just….snapped. I threw my books at her and left the classroom." Carine said, explaining what happened to her at school.

"Then what happened?" Carrie asked.

"I just got a five minute talk in the principal's office, then got sent to my next class." Carine said.

"So that's why she called." Carrie said. "But why not just tell us? You didnt do anything that bad."

"When she called me all of those things...it just made me not want to talk about anything. It really did hurt." Carine said sitting back up. "...Mom? Was she right? Am I any of those things?"

"Carine. Look at me." Carrie requested. Her daughter looked to her as she told her. "I have to tell you like it is. Your attitude sucks. You're disrespectful, you're irritable, and you're something else."

"...what?" Carine asked.

"You're just like me." Carrie said, surprising Carine. "You remind me of myself when I was younger, people used to think the same things about me. And yes, some things were right about me, I could've been nicer and just better overall, but everything else was just a ton of crap. I couldn't let those get me down, but It did. I felt very secluded, alone, alienated and like nobody would understand me. And that's when I met my best friend. Someone who understood me completely."

"Who?" Carine asked.

"Your father! Who else?" Carrie said.

"Why him? You two have nothing in common. How could he get you?" Carine asked.

"Well. He took the action to actually come to me. Not asking anyone else about me, or basing his truth on rumors, he took the time and effort to get to know me, to be my friend and to stand by me when I truly needed somebody." Carrie said idolizing her husband's kindness to her when they were children. "I fell in love with him. My best friend."

"...Why are you telling me this?" Carine asked.

"To let you know, that its okay to feel sad sometimes. And if you ever need to talk to anyone, don't be afraid to talk to us, especially me and your father...but mostly me." Carrie said with a wink.

Carine didn't think her small speech applied too much to her but she said something in between it all that showed her that she has no need to hide anything from her family, especially her mother for they were the same and she knew her struggle.

"Yeah mom." Carine said with a barely noticeable smile on her face. "Thanks. Thanks for talking to me."

"It's my job." Carrie said. "You can always talk to me."

"I know." Carine said.

"Now give me a hug." Carrie said opening her arms.

"Hug? N-no!" Carine said.

"Tickle monster again?" Carrie said to her.

Carine grunted and sighed, not wanting to pass out from another tickling attack from her mother and embraced her and accepted her hug. This lasted only for a few seconds until Carine escaped her grasp.

"Now Carine. Tell me something." Carrie asked.

"Yes mom?" Carine said.

"Do you have a 'special' friend you talk to?" Carrie asked.

"M-mom!" Carine yelled blushing.

"Do you?" Carrie asked. "Or at least someone you're looking at a little too often?"

"Shut up mom!" Carine turned away from her with her cheeks red. "I don't need any."

"What's his name?" Carrie asked.

"I dont have any guy friends and you know that!" Carine said. "I hate men."

"Her name?" Carrie asked. "Because if that's the case, just know that I don't judge from preference."

"No! I don't like anybody!" Carine said.

"Are you sure?" Carrie asked.

"Yes!" Carine said.

"Hmm…..okay then." Carrie said. "Now come out of your room and go downstairs. Supper's almost ready."

"Ugh. Okay." Carine said. She got up from her bed and left the room, looking back at her mother before going out the door. Carrie rose from the bed and laughed a bit from her daughter's nervous behavior earlier.

"_She likes someone. I know it._" Carrie thought.

Carrie prepared to leave the room as well, until something alerted her to her daughter's computer.

"Hmm?" Carrie said. A beep, sounding like a notification from receiving a message. "Carine's computer?"

**Comment, review, favorite and follow for more chapters! Let me know your thoughts and bye bye!**

**Credits to:**

**PumpkinLOL (me) – Al, Lancer**

**Jonathan-Elrod - Marmalade,**

**Michaelryder37 – Marissa, Carine**

**Midnight-Wolfi3 – Gumdrop**

**Co-written by BlackAcez**


End file.
